1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to human performance psychology and to an apparatus and method of biofeedback used to improve human performance.
2. Related Art
The human nervous system is responsible for a number of physiological functions that are either vital to life, or to the normal performance of a bodily function, or to the normal performance of organ systems supportive of life. Examples of human physiological functions include mentation, respiration, digestion, circulation, excretion, sight, and hearing.
In general, human physiological functions may be associated with one or more electrical signals (hereinafter “physiological signals”) by techniques that are well known in the biomedical arts. Examples of physiological signals include the electrical activity of muscle that is detected, measured and recorded by an electromyogram (“EMG”), and the electrical activity of the heart that is detected, measured and recorded by an electrocardiogram (“ECG”). Other examples of physiological signals include, inter alia, the respiratory rate (“RR”), heart rate (“HR”), blood pressure (“BP”), skin temperature (“ST”), and the galvanic skin response (“GSR”).
Measured values of physiological signals may be associated with physiological states and may be used to define the presence of such states. For example, in a physiological state of anxiety, adrenaline diverts blood from the body surface to the core of the body in response to a perceived danger. As warm blood is withdrawn from the surface of the skin, the ST drops. Similarly, in a physiological state of stress, perspiration generally increases making the skin more conductive to the passage of an electrical current, thereby increasing the GSR. In a like manner, the EMG may be used to measure the tension present in certain muscles, thereby serving as an index of the overall tension experienced by a person.
Electrical brainwave activity is another physiological function productive of physiological signals that may also be associated with physiological states. An EEG recording is made by attaching one or more pairs of electrodes to a person's scalp using an electrically conductive gel. Each electrode-pair comprises an EEG channel. Channels are placed on the scalp in a grid-like pattern accordance with a convention. Convention also categorically defines detected brainwave electrical activity according to such features as frequency and amplitude. Brainwave activity changes situationally and with a person's physiological state. Particular mental tasks also alter the pattern of brain waves in different parts of the brain. Formerly output to a galvanometer coupled to an inkpen for tracing brainwave activity across a moving paper strip, modern EEG channels output their signals to digital-to-analog converters for subsequent input into a computer for programmed display.
It is well known in the field of performance psychology that the peak performance of a task, such as, for example, putting in golf, foul shooting in basketball, serving in tennis, marksmanship in archery or on a gunnery range, shooting pool, or throwing darts, requires the presence of a physiological state, comprising one or more optimal measured values of physiological signals, coincident with the physical performance of the task. The presence of such an optimal physiological state in athletics is colloquially referred to as “being in the zone.”
An optimal physiological state for the performance of a task is obtained if all of the measured values of physiological signals indicating or defining the physiological state are equal to all of the values which are measured when a defined task is successfully performed with a defined frequency, in a defined number of repetitions, such as, for example, making a foul shot from a foul line 9 times out of 10, or sinking a putt in a single stroke on a golf green 9 times out of 10.
Biofeedback generally refers to an area of physiological research and technology by which a subject is trained to exert conscious control over certain unconscious physiological functions, such as those discussed hereinabove. The measured values of physiological signals of a subject may be received by a biofeedback device as inputs from a variety of biosensing devices and then displayed on an output device of the biofeedback device, i.e., “fed back” to the subject, so that the subject is able to monitor them and to learn to consciously control the physiological signals.
Biofeedback devices use computer programs to enable a person to see his or her own measured values of selected physiological signals through the use of biosensing devices placed on various sites on the person's body. For example, a thermistor may be placed on a person's fingertip for the measurement of ST, or, for example, an EEG electrode may be placed on the person's scalp for outputting brainwave patterns. The measured values of such exemplary physiological signals from such biosensing devices are output to a computer that is programmed to display this information in ways that are useful to the person. Once the measured values of a person's physiological signals are available, i.e., “fed back” to the person, self-regulation of these parameters can be achieved through several methodologies. Physiological self-regulation training has been shown to benefit health as well as performance of athletic and other expert tasks.
The programmed displays of biofeedback information vary. Some programs, for example, cause the display of bars representative of physiological difference values, each computed as the difference between a measured value of a person's physiological signal and a corresponding, predefined desirable physiological value, that is consistent with the optimal performance of a defined task, such as, for example, target shooting, or, the invocation of a defined state, such as, for example, a meditative state. The bars move up and down on the display to reflect the magnitude of the physiological difference value, growing taller as the difference value increases, or growing smaller as the difference value decreases; and, consequently feeding back information relevant to the achievement of certain predefined goals or targets in physiological self-regulation that are optimally consistent with the desired task or achievement of the desired state. Other programs display difference values through the movement or relative location of animated icons or cartoon characters.
Methods used by persons to consciously alter measured values of physiological signals also vary, and for example include such techniques known in the biofeedback arts as diaphragmatic breathing, clearing of the mind, external focusing, creative imagery, progressive relaxation and cognitive restructuring.
Significantly, self-regulation of physiological signals cannot be forced. Rather, it must be encouraged and supported until self-regulatory mastery is accomplished, not unlike learning self-balancing on an upright bicycle as a child. Neither accomplishment can be willed. It can only be grasped or apprehended in a moment of realization achieved through encouragement, support and practice.
Accordingly, in utilizing biofeedback for physiological self-regulation to invoke or attain measured values of desired physiological signals consistent with the optimal performance of a desired task, the values of desired physiological signals are initially set at more attainable target values, which values are altered as proficiency in self-regulation progresses. That is, the desired physiological target values are initially set to make the attainment of the self-regulatory goal easier. Thereafter, the bar is gradually raised in keeping with the self-regulatory proficiency of the person.
Presently, methods of biofeedback used in performance psychology suffer from a number of disaffecting limitations. Initially, prevailing systems and methods of biofeedback training require numerous training sessions involving near-relentless repetition in order to master biofeedback and enjoy its benefits. Often, an athlete or trainee cannot maintain the motivation required to fully realize the performance payoff of biofeedback. Additionally, prevailing systems and methods of biofeedback training are non-contextual, occurring, as they do, at a time (and, usually, place) away from the performance of the action or movement. This requires the athlete or trainee to “hold on” to the practiced mental state until the action or movement is performed.
The present invention overcomes these limitations by:                [i] providing an apparatus and method of performance-enhancing biofeedback training that has intuitive and motivational appeal to the trainee, by tightly embedding the biofeedback training in the actual task whose performance is to be improved; and,        [ii] providing an apparatus and method of performance-enhancing biofeedback training that is operational in real-time, precisely at the moment when a task or exercise, such as an athletic or military maneuver, is required to be performed.        
No prevailing systems and methods of biofeedback training used in performance psychology simultaneously integrate biofeedback training of the optimal mental state with practice in executing an action or movement.
The present invention makes practicing the optimal mental state and executing the movement both part of the same practice challenge by engineering the two tasks into the same practice device. This difference provides at least three additional advantages:                [i] The trainee's brain comes to more closely associate the optimal mental state with the look and feel of the performance setting and equipment, as well as the muscle action involved in executing the movement, so that the trainee is better able to later reproduce that state when immersed in the cues of the real situation.        [ii] Unlike prevailing sport mental training systems and methods, the present invention has intuitive appeal to the trainee by tightly embedding the biofeedback training in the actual task that the trainee wants to perform better. The trainee is required to simultaneously master the muscle skill and the optimal mental state; the trainee is rewarded for mastering the mental state by having the practice environment actually physically change to cooperate with, rather than frustrate, his attempts perform a task.        [iii] The biofeedback that the trainee observes, and is motivated to control, changes features of the practice environment that actually physically affect the trainee's likelihood of succeeding in the desired performance.        
Prevailing mental training systems and methods are not helpful at the moment of execution of performance because they employ distracting displays and sounds that are foreign to the performance setting. Furthermore, these forms of feedback are not as motivating because they do not physically impact success in performance.
The feedback behavior of the physical environment provided by the present invention has the added benefit of providing aids to visualization that the trainee can use in the real-world skill performance setting. The present invention physically actualizes what the relevant art calls on the trainee to imagine.